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CHRIST'S SECOND COMING.

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pare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am there ye may be also." So much for Christ's promise to his disciples. And now let us read his prayer to his Father on this point, John xvii. 24, " Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.' Paul says, I. Thess. iv. 17, "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." "For it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." text says, "And hast not made us unto our God kings and priests.". Rev. xx. 4, 6, "And they lived and reigned with Christ." "And shall reign with him." xxi. 3, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

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III. "And we shall reign on the earth," says our text. Not under its present dispensation, but after it is cleansed by fire, after the wicked are destroyed by fire, as the antidiluvians were by water, after the resurrection of the saints, and when Christ's prayer, taught to his disciples, shall be answered, "thy will be done on earth even as in heaven." When the bride has made herself ready, and married to the bridegroom, he will then move her into the New Jerusalem state, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, where we shall reign with him forever and ever, on the new earth and in the new heavens," and God shalĺ wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.' Then the whole earth "shall be full of his glory;" and then, as says the prophet Isaiah liv. 5, " For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called."

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And then, my dear hearer, if you have had your heart broken off from sin; if you have by faith been united in spirit to the Lamb of God; if you have patiently endured tribulation and persecution for his name, then you will live and reign with him on the earth, and this earth will be regenerated by fire and the power of God, the cursed destroyed, sin, pain, crying, sorrow and death banished from the world, and mortality clothed upon by immortality,

death swallowed up in victory. You will rise up in that general assembly, and clapping your hands with joy, cry,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is now come." Then you will be in a situation to join the grand chorus and sing the new song, saying, "Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth, saying, with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." And all who meet in that grand assembly will be then heard to shout, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and And methinks I can now see every one who loves our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in this assembly, rising upon their feet, and in one united prayer of faith, crying, "Come Lord Jesus, O come quickly."

ever."

But you, oh! impenitent man or woman, where will you be then? When heaven shall resound with the mighty song, and distant realms shall echo back the sound, where, tell me, where will you be then! In hell! O think! In hell! a dreadful word!/Once more think! In hell, lifting up your eyes being in torment. Stop sinner, think! In hell! where shall be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Stop sinner, stop; consider on your latter end. In hell! "Where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." I entreat of you to think in hell! I know you hate to hear the word. It sounds too harsh. There is no music in it. You say it grates upon the ear. But think, when it grates upon the soul, the conscience, and the ear, and not by sound only, but a dread reality, when there can be no respite, no cessation, no deliverance, no hope! You will then think, yes, of this warning, of a thousand others, perhaps, of this hour with many more that are lost; yes, worse than lost, that have been squandered in earthly, vain and transitory mirth, have been abused; for there have been many hours the Spirit strove with you, and you prayed to be excused. There was an hour when conscience spake, but you stopped your ears and would not hear. There was a time when judgment and reason whispered, but you soon drowned their cry by calling in some aid against your better part.

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To judgment and reason you have opposed will and wit, and then, in hell, was only in the grave. In this vain citadel, on this frail house of sand you will build until the last seal is broken, the last trump will sound, the last woe pronounced, and the last vial be poured upon the earth. Then, impenitent man or woman, you will awake in everlasting woe!

Be warned, repent, fly, fly for succor to the ark of God, to Jesus Christ, the Lamb that once was slain, that you might live, for he is worthy to receive all honor, power, and glory. Believe, and you shall live. Obey his word, his spirit, his calls, his invitations, there is no time for delay; put it not off I beg of you, no, not for a moment. Do you want to join that heavenly choir and sing the new song? Then come in God's appointed way, repent. Do you want a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens? Then join in heart and soul this happy people whose God is the Lord. Do you want an interest in the New Jerusalem, the beloved city? Then set your face as a flint Zionward; become a pilgrim in the good old way.. "Seek first the kingdom of heaven," says Christ, “and then all these things shall be added unto you."

LECTURE XI.

REV. v. 5.

"And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

The book of Revelations has been called by thousands a sealed book; and many a dear saint, while in this imperfect state of vision and knowledge, has wept much because they could not read and understand the book. For it is very evident that the book of Revelations is not only interesting in its symbolical and mystical descriptions, natural scenery and figurative language, but it is rich in truth and the communication of events then hid under the veil of futurity, and would only be unfolded to the natural visions of men, many ages to come. John has wrote this book after the laws of nature. That is, he has seemed to copy after some of the richest and most picturesque scenes in nature's laws. He has in revealing truths to our minds followed the same steady course that fountains of water do in their course to the sea. He begins as it were back upon the mountains, where the head may be but a fountain, and there gives us a description of the source; he then glides gently along through the vale below, winding between hills and mountains, visiting in his course the hamlets of the peasant, the villages of men, the populous towns and cities of commerce until he lands us or leaves us in the ocean of eternity. At first, he appears to be describing some bubbling fountain or gentle spring, and swelling in importance as he proceeds, brings in and adds every important stream of event, deepens and widens in his course, until he makes his prophetic history like a deep flowing river, bearing upon its bosom the gallant ships and galley with oars. At first, he describes a pebbly brook murmuring along the hills, now and then bursting into view with some gentle fall, then gliding gently away until it meets some rugged headland, shifts its course and almost seems to retrace its path, then suddenly

bursting from the hills in cataracts of foam, bounding from rock to rock, leaping into the vale below, he again seems to follow the alluvial flats and receives his tributary streams, winds on his way, until it falls at its mouth by a tremendous leap into a gulph of waters, and is swallowed np in the waves of the sea.

Four times the Revelations seems to bring us down in this manner, as though he had begun on one mountain and traced four different streams of history down to the great ocean of eternity. Like the river of Eden, which watered the garden, becoming four heads of four great rivers, which watered and encompassed the whole land, taking different points of the compass, but falling at last into the ocean. Gen. ii. 10-14. And all these having seven tributary streams in their course. The seven churches of Asia, is a history of the church of Christ in her seven forms, in all her windings and turnings, in all her prosperity and adversity, from the days of the apostles down to the end of the world. The seven seals, is a history of the transactions of the powers and kings of the earth over the church, and God's protection of his people during the same time. The seven trumpets are a history of seven peculiar and heavy judgments sent upon the earth, or Roman kingdom. And the seven vials are the seven last plagues sent upon Papal Rome. Mixed with these are many other events wove in like tributary streams, and filling up the grand river of prophecy until the whole ends us in the ocean of eternity.

This, to me, is the plan of John's prophecy in the book of Revelation. And the man who wishes to understand this book must have a thorough knowledge of other parts of the word of God. The figures and metaphors used in this prophecy are not all explained in the same, but must be found in other prophets, and explained in other passages of scripture. Therefore it is evident that God has designed the study of the whole even to obtain a clear knowledge of any part. I shall then pursue the following method:

I. Explain the book which was in the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

II. Give the history of the seven seals and their opening.

I. I am to explain what is meant by the book.

The book is often spoken of in the word of God. Sometimes we hear it spoken of as a little book open in the hands of the angel, and sometimes it is commanded to be

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